One of the things that the 9/11 report brought home is that in major disasters, there are always early warnings from experts in the field.

The vaunted British-style bureaucracy in India responded with its usual alacrity to the incoming tsunami warnings:

[T]he top brass of the Indian Air Force knew their Nicobar Air base had been submerged a full hour before the waves struck the mainland coast…

The Indian Meteorological Department knew of the earthquake within minutes. Its first fax went out two and half hours later, and was sent to the home of the previous government’s science and technology minister, rather than his successor… “[I]t was a Sunday. Time was taken by the officer to get ready and get into the car…”

“There have been four tsunamis in India in the last 100 years, and it is well-known that an earthquake of such a large magnitude generates a tsunami. There was no system in place.”… “A country that hopes to run the call centers of the world could not call its own people.”

It took time to get into the car? IIT kids broadcast large porn videos in under 30 minutes, and they couldn’t pick up the phone?

Welcome to the old new century.

Have you deconstructed the title to this one yet? The New York Times reports on the role blogs are playing in disseminating news and information about the Tsunami in South and South East Asia:

For vivid reporting from the enormous zone of tsunami disaster, it was hard to beat the blogs.

The so-called blogosphere, with its personal journals published on the Web, has become best known as a forum for bruising political discussion and media criticism. But the technology proved a ready medium for instant news of the tsunami disaster and for collaboration over ways to help.

I know that this post is a bit self-serving in that it occurs as a blog entry which is pointing out the value of blogs, but nonetheless I think it shows neophytes or the jaded non-believers that blogs can be relevant and worthy of a visit even if non-political in nature.

Bloggers at the scene are more deeply affected by events than the journalists who roam from one disaster to another, said Xeni Jardin, one of the four co-editors of the site BoingBoing.net, which pointed visitors to many of the disaster blogs.

“They are helping us understand the impact of this event in a way that other media just can’t,” with an intimate voice and an unvarnished perspective, with the richness of local context, Ms. Jardin said.

That makes blogs compelling – and now essential – reading, said Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan, an assistant professor of culture and communication at New York University and a blogger. Once he heard about the disaster, “Right after BBC, I went to blogs,” he said.

The following quote in the article demonstrates the dedication of (or metal defect within) bloggers:

Dr. Vaidhyanathan said he was leaving for a long-planned trip to India today and, if possible, hoped to visit relatives in Madras. “As long as there is electricity and Internet access, I’ll blog,” he said.

I personally think that is a much cooler motto than that of the post office.

This story in the Mississippi Clarion Ledger is disturbing on several levels. The first is the personal story:

After several years, Vinod Taneja was to be reunited with his wife Monday night at Jackson International Airport after years of being apart.

Taneja, 56, had come alone to the United States from the couple’s home in northern India to make a life for them.

He opened Highway 80 Mini Mart in south Jackson a few months ago and was the store’s only employee.

But about two hours before his wife’s flight was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 p.m., Taneja was shot and killed at his store at 5049 U.S. 80 West.

“He wanted to make a home here,” said Hitesh Desai of the India Association of Mississippi. “The fact that his wife came here under these circumstances is demoralizing.

As if the cruel fate of that in itself isn’t sad enough, the circumstances of his death take a bizarre twist:

No one has been arrested, and a motive has not been established in Taneja’s death, said Jackson police spokesman Robert Graham.

A man wearing a “Scream” mask and dark clothes came in the store and shot Taneja, Graham said.

The mask and a piece of clothing were found in trash near the store, police said.

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In response to the devastating Tsunamis that assaulted the coastal regions of South and South East Asia, South Asian Americans are trying to get past the worry and grief and move on to the task of getting aid to the victims. From NJ.com:

“Nothing happened to my family, thank God,” said Balija, who is president of the Hindu American Temple & Cultural Center in Morganville [NJ]. “A lot of fishermen live near the sea . … They don’t even know what they lost. It’s unbelievable. It’s very devastating.”

Balija said members of his temple would meet to determine what resources should be sent to victims. Meanwhile, other organizations were beginning to organize their rescue efforts yesterday.

“We are very much concerned and sorry about this,” said Pradip “Peter” Kothari, president of the Indian Business Association and Indo-American Cultural Society in New Jersey. “We have to talk to the different organizations and temples and figure out what is the best way to react.”

The San Jose Mercury News also reports [reg. required] on the beginnings of an aid effort:

[Lata] Patil, active with the Indian Community Center in Milpitas [CA], said she also planned on contacting other community members to begin coordinating aid. Others were trying to reach relief organizations such as the Red Cross to help.

White House officials said relief efforts were already under way to help people in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, a string of 1,192 coral atolls off the southwestern coast of India. Other countries would also receive aid as the extent of the disaster becomes clear, officials said. President Bush expressed his condolences Sunday to disaster victims.

“We’re working on ways to help,” said U.S. State Department official Noel Clay. “The United States will be very responsive.”

If you would like to help, a good place to start is to visit the Red Cross Website:

You can help those affected by this crisis and countless others around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance, and other support to those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the International Response Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

In addition, here is a link to the website of the Sri Lanka Association of Greater Washington, which is collecting donations. Sri Lanka was reportedly the hardest hit area.

Update: Manish and others inform me of this EXCELLENT blog that has popped up specifically to address this crisis.

Double-check any plans to visit coastal cities on the eastern shores of South Asia:

The world’s most powerful earthquake in 40 years rocked northern Indonesia on Sunday and launched tidal waves that swamped villages and seaside resorts across Asia, killing more than 700 people in five countries….

Waves crashed into coastal villages over a wide area of Sri Lanka — some 1,000 miles west of the quake’s epicenter — killing some 300 people and displacing thousands of others, said military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake. Parts of the northeastern districts of Muttur and Trincomalee were inundated by waves as high as 20 feet, said D. Rodrigo, a Muttur district official.

In India, beaches were turned into virtual open mortuaries with bodies of people caught in the tidal wave being washed ashore. At least 150 were recovered around the coastal town of Cuddalore, said deputy Superintendent of police K. Panniselvan. Some 100 others were found around Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu… Thirty-six were killed in neighboring Andhra Pradesh…

From Reuters UK:

Indian police have arrested a man they say kidnapped a two-year-old girl before roasting her on a fire and eating her because he was starving.

The gruesome incident took place in a jungle hamlet in Nellore district in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh about a week ago, a police officer said on Friday, and came to light after the 42-year-old man was later discovered gorging on a buffalo carcass.

“He was caught and handed over to us by villagers who found it strange that he was eating such a large animal with his bare hands with flourish,” the officer told Reuters. The man was arrested on Wednesday.

I really struggled with whether I should post this one or not. Really messed up things happen in the world all the time, but many are just isolated acts committed by truly sick individuals. I only post it because I have long been concerned about the ecological, economical, and social implications of the bush-meat trade in Africa. People wipe out entire species including the great apes (whose cut-up body parts look no different than a human’s) because they are hungry or because they know they can get money for the illegal meat on the black market. Then, last year it was reported that armed militias were actually hunting and eating the Pygmy population in Africa. The Pygmies appealed to the U.N. for protection. Anyways, what I took out of this was the thought that although this was probably a very very isolated incident, the fine line between widespread practices and insanity is a bit blurry at times.

The BBC News asked the public, in an informal poll this week, who the greatest South Asian leader ever, has been. The results surprised me, and the phrase “vote early and often” came to mind.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah 1876-1948
Lawyer and politician who fought for the cause of India’s independence from Britain, then moved on to found a Muslim state in Pakistan in 1947. In Pakistan, Jinnah is revered as Quaid-e-Azam, or ‘Great Leader.’

Up until the very end, Jinnah was a runaway winner. It looks like Gandhi made a late inning push however, when looking at the final 39% to 36% margin of victory. The Hindustan Times picks up the story:

Jinnah has relegated Mahatma to the second spot, emerging as the South Asia’s greatest ever leader in an online poll conducted by the BBC. While Jinnah has polled 39 per cent votes, the ‘Sabarmati’s Sant’ could garner only 36 per cent votes.

While some surfers have raised objections over the inclusion of Zia ul Haq, that Ahmed Shah Masood has also made it to the list of the greats flummoxes one and all.

What is more intriguing is the near-annihilation of almost all the stalwarts – such as Nehru, Chandrika, Jayawardene who failed to gather a single percentage of votes – save Subhash Chandra Bose who polled an alarming 21 per cent of the popular votes.

Well come on. The Bose result should not be surprising at all. We all love our audio speakers. I myself would have voted for the controvercial Mujahideen leader Ahmed Shah Masood, but thats mostly because his nickname was “The Lion of the Panjshir.” Someday I would like to be remembered as “The Lion of the Blogosphere.”

Anyways, the bottom line is that web polls are pointless.

PV Narasimha Rao, who served as Prime Minister of India from 1991-1996 after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, had a heart attack two weeks ago; He died today at age 83.

PV Narasimha Rao was the first Indian leader outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to complete a full five-year term.

But his tenure was marred by the destruction of an ancient mosque in the city of Ayodhya by Hindu nationalists in 1992.

The demolition of the mosque led to widespread riots between Hindus and Muslims across India in which several thousand people were killed. Bitter religious divisions exist to this day.

Mr Rao also has the unwelcome distinction of being the first Indian prime minister to be convicted of corruption.

His conviction was later overturned. Rao is also remembered for his economic policies;

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who served as Mr Rao’s finance minister, said he would be remembered as the father of India’s economic reforms.

Mr Singh, an economist, was brought into politics by Mr Rao to tackle a balance of payments crisis.

They are credited with opening up the Indian economy, now one of the world’s fastest growing, after years of socialist controls.

BBC NEWS: Ex-Indian PM Narasimha Rao dies

CNN International: Former India PM Rao dead at 83

Perhaps the only thing more murderous than the commute in Los Angeles may be the daily trek that workers in Gosaba, India have to deal with:

Between 150-200 people from Gosaba have been killed going about their daily work — fishing and cutting wood on the edge of the park or gathering honey deep in the jungle.

The impoverished villagers say they have little choice but to risk their lives in order to eke out an existence in a hostile environment ill-suited to farming.

Every year, 20 to 30 people are carried off by tigers in the Sunderbans, home to 270 of the big cats, according to regional forestry department figures.

Such tragedies have earned Gosaba the unfortunate monicker of “island of widows.”

AFP/Yahoo!: Man-eating tigers wreak havoc on India’s island of widows

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the fuzzy images of the 17-year-old girl having oral sex [NSFW] with her high school boyfriend has sent shock waves through urban India, exposing the growing friction between the conservative middle class, its increasingly Westernized children and modern technology. [Chicago Sun Times]

The boy got off (as it were) with a slap on the wrist, despite cries for his blood. Meanwhile, the girl got sent off to Canada, as if enceinte.

Magistrate Santosh Snehi Mann released the boy on bail after his parents put up 25,000 rupees ($570) and surrendered the minor’s passport. The judge called his actions a “misadventure”. The court ordered the boy, who cannot be named, to undergo a month of counselling and told his parents to supply weekly behavioural reports. However, police and prosecutors had called for the boy to be kept in juvenile detention. A police petition said: “The act of the boy was obscene, depraved and showed his animal instincts and he should undergo psychiatric treatment and counselling. The girl involved has reportedly been sent to Canada by her parents. The teenagers were both expelled from their school. [BBC]

Meanwhile, in a charmingly quaint attempt to grab the limelight, Kareena Kapoor is suing a newspaper for having had the audacity to print photographs of her canoodling with co-star Shahid Kapoor in a restaurant.

An Indian Bollywood film star has begun legal proceedings against a tabloid newspaper that published photos of her passionately kissing her co-star. Kareena Kapoor – one of Bollywood’s most famous actors – is seeking an unconditional apology from the paper. She and her co-star Shahid Kapoor say the photos were doctored, and were not of them. The poor-quality photographs appeared to suggest that the two stars were kissing intimately in a restaurant. The BBC’s Zubair Ahmed says that the photographs and film clip of the two actors – who are not related – were apparently taken by someone with a video-enabled mobile phone. On Thursday, some news channels ran the entire clip. [BBC]

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